Rumors of more layoffs at Marvel were the hot topic at NYCC and today, confirmation that editors Jody LeHeup and Alejandro Arbona have been laid off. CBR is reporting that as many as 15 people were let go today in a cost cutting measure.

Arbona edited such titles as IRON MAN 2.0 and CASANOVA. LeHeup was best known for shepherding the long delayed STRANGE TALES anthology to its conclusion.

We’ll have more on this breaking story — including why the layoffs are happening — later.

Heidi MacDonald is the founder and editor in chief of The Beat. In the past, she worked for Disney, DC Comics, Fox and Publishers Weekly. She can be heard regularly on the More To Come Podcast. She likes coffee, cats and noble struggle.

They’re publishing 100 books a month, why not cut the hell out of the line and promote/market books better? A book that costs x amount to make can sell 120k instead of 80k a month, for only the marginal price increase of marketing efforts, instead of the serious increase of paying a writer/penciler/inker/letterer/colorist?

Over at Bleeding Cool, Rich makes a great case for this not being a Disney thing, but instead typical Perlmutter savageness. Remember, he doesn’t own the company anymore, but he does run it, and word has it that he has positioned himself to be the only voice from Marvel that Disney hears.

I find it interesting that Matt Fraction and Jim McCann have each announced that they’re hiring one of the laid off staff to work for them. Corporations can’t be counted on to keep people employed full-time, but individuals are stepping up to offer work to talented people.

Yeah, Heidi! The important thing isn’t the facts, it’s whether you badmouth the people svenj would prefer you to badmouth!

Meanwhile, best of luck to those who’ve lost their jobs, regardless of who the proper badmouthery target is.

And I doubt Matt or Jim is hiring anyone full-time; they’re doubtless hiring them on a freelance basis. A fee for editing one book freelance isn’t as expensive as a staff job. But to the suddenly-unemployed, I’m sure it’s welcome.

Disney has a “Pixar” policy with Marvel. Aside from printing a few comics magazines via Disney Worldwide Publishing and a few picture books, Disney hasn’t PUBLICLY meddled with Marvel. Of course, Marvel’s profits are not publicly known, so perhaps there is some concern from Burbank.

If this is a result of not meeting profit goals, then at what point are the executives questioned or blamed?